About a dozen buyers had dragged Neelkamal Realtor to the Bombay high court last month alleging cheating and gross delay in even starting the construction of the free-sale building in a redevelopment project for seven years. They have paid anywhere between Rs 2 crore and Rs 3 crore for each flat since 2010.

On March 1, Justice S J Kathawalla had called for details from the builder about the schedule of the construction up to completion. But the builder and the litigating buyers' group led by Yatin Gupta and Kaushal Bagadia then worked on a settlement.

In one of the fastest settlements--after three weeks and 10 hearings--Neelkamal Realtors, in which IL&FS has substantial shareholding, agreed to return their money by August, with the first instalment being immediate.

One flat buyer, Shilpa Bharatiya, had moved the court against the builder early February, saying the promised possession date was in June 2014. He did not arrive at settlement but his counsel Birendra Saraf said it was in “the advanced stages of negotiation“.

There are two wings in the freesale building. Wing A is to comprise 71 floors of which three levels of parking plus three floors have been completed while in Wing B which is of 48 floors, work has not moved beyond plinth level, the builder's counsel Janak Dwarkadas had said at an earlier hearing.On Monday, its other counsel, Dinyar Madon, and lawyers for the ten buyers, counsel Chetan Kapadia and Ishwar Nankani, informed Justice Kathawalla that the settlement was mutually acceptable to all.

The buyers had alleged that despite having paid a quarter of the flat prices valued at Rs 6-8 crore while booking, the sale agreements have not been executed.

Meanwhile, advocate Tanveer Nizam appearing for original tenants still awaiting their rehabilitation into a new building, informed the court that they had filed a separate petition against the builder who under earlier consent terms in court proceeding was to complete the reconstruction first.